New Slogan - GTT!!

When the Panic of 1837 threw thousands of frontiersmen off their lands, Texas was a second chance for many of them.  Single men were granted 640 acres and families 1280 acres, plus the option to buy more at 50 cents an acre.

Soon GTT (Gone to Texas) was written across abandoned cabin doors and across creditors' accounting books in the United States, not just on the frontier but in the eastern seaboard as well.  Between 1836 and 1847, the total population of Texas went from 40,000 to 142,000!

The old empresario system was revived - a given section of public domain was designated a colony and assigned a proprietor who collected fees for surveys, moving and building costs, along with all other necessities he brought with the colonists.

Henri Castro, a wealthy Frenchman, was such a empresario.  He obtained a grant in the Medina River country between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande.  In 1844 the first group of French colonists moved in, escorted by 20 Texas Rangers, and laid out the town of Castroville.  The area was dangerous territory, with both Indian and Mexican raids.  Castroville was the first permanent settlement between San Antonio and the Rio Grande.

The settlers stayed through severe droughts and Indian raids.  By 1847 more than 2000 Frenchman had settled in the town and surrounding area.

Next time...It's the German's Turn
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On October 27, 1873, Joseph Glidden, a De Kalb, Illinois farmer, submits an application to the U.S. Patent Office for his clever new design for a fencing wire with sharp barbs, an invention that will forever change the face of the American West.